1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the control of a motor vehicle. In particular, the invention relates to the control of a vehicle in an environment with other motor vehicles.
2. Description of the Related Art
An assistance system for a driver of a motor vehicle is designed to assist the driver in controlling the vehicle in the linear and lateral directions. For example, a brake assistance can trigger emergency braking, in which the linear speed of the vehicle is reduced. In another example, an electronic stability program (ESP) may ensure that the driving stability of the motor vehicle is stabilized in the lateral direction through a steering or braking intervention.
Some assistance systems, e.g., a parking assistant, do not intervene in the steering of the motor vehicle directly, but output a signal to the vehicle's driver in order to point out a potential danger. Other assistance systems, such as the mentioned brake assistant, are able to intervene in the control of the motor vehicle and can normally not be deactivated by the driver. Yet other driver assistance systems induce a partially or completely autonomous guidance of the vehicle, so that, if at all, there is barely any need for the driver to intervene in the control. The driver of the motor vehicle can usually interact with the system in order to achieve an optimized vehicle control.
The function of most driver assistance systems is restricted to data that lie within a detection range of a sensor on board of the motor vehicle or are available in the form of stored information, e.g., as map data. Supplementary information is transmitted between individual motor vehicles in some instances as well in order to make current circumstances within an area available immediately. Nevertheless, there is often not enough information at hand for managing the best possible control of the motor vehicle in a partially or fully automatic manner. For example, an unexpected obstacle that the sensors on board of the motor vehicle are unable to detect, cannot be used for ascertaining a driving strategy for the vehicle.